1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electronic air cleaner which discharges the dust, absorbs it electrically and cleans the air.
2. Prior Art
Generally speaking, it is quite difficult to mechanically absorb (e.g. by a filter) fumes of a cigarette, oily mist produced in cooking, or the like since the sizes of the dust or mist are quite small.
To fulfill this objective electronic air cleaners have been conveniently used.
FIG. 1 shows a structure of an electrode part of a conventional (prior art) electronic air cleaner. It comprises dust collector electrodes 100 arranged parallel to the air flow, ion accelerating electrodes 101 having a high opposite potential to the dust collector electrodes 100. Arranged between the dust collector electrodes 100 are discharging wires 102 having the same potential as the ion accelerating electrodes 101, and installed in front of the ion accelerating electrodes 101. Dust collecting is generally carried out in a manner such that the dust in the dirty air, flowing from an intake 103 by a fan 51, is charged by the discharging wires 102, and the charged dust is attracted to and caught on the dust collector electrodes 100 while passing between the dust collector electrodes 100 and ion accelerating electrodes 101. The discharging wires 102 are always exposed to the dirty air and the dust adhering to the discharging wires 102 tends to decrease the operational quality of such a conventional device. If the dirty air includes fumes of a cigarette, oil mist from lard or salad oil, small particles of them are caught by, stick and accumulate on the discharging wires 102.
This decreases the discharging activity of the wire and its charging of the passing dust, thereby leading to a decrease in the dust collecting efficiency. In order to prevent this problem in the conventional air cleaner periodic cleanings of the discharging wires are required to remove the dust thereon. Such cleaning is difficult for household users to carry out, since the discharging wire is likely to be broken or lose its tension.